A judge will decide Friday whether to uphold a contempt of court charge levied against Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins for defying an order to testify at a hearing where the DA was accused of prosecutorial misconduct.

The months since State District Judge Lena Levario held Watkins in contempt March 7 for refusing to answer questions about indictments sought for a Texas oil family heir have involved legal wrangling that sought to delay Friday’s decision or avert it altogether. Watkins has maintained that a prosecutor’s decisions while pursuing a case should not be questioned in court.

Baring any surprise moves by attorneys involved in the case, State District Judge Bob Brotherton should decide Friday whether the contempt charge and the $500 fine it comes with will stand. He could also dismiss the charge.

Officers of the court like Watkins are given a hearing before another judge when held in contempt as a check on judicial power. Watkins, like Levario, is a Democrat in Dallas County. Brotherton is a Republican from Wichita Falls.

Brotherton originally scheduled the hearing for mid-July. It began was but cut short after a motion by Watkins’ attorneys led to Brotherton ordering Levario to rewrite her contempt charge because she did not include a fine.

When Levario attempted to do so, Watkins sought to have Levario recused from the case, saying she made disparaging remarks about him. The bid to remove Levario failed. Brotherton rescheduled the hearing for Friday.

The hearing before Levario was supposed to explore allegations by Al Hill III that Watkins sought mortgage fraud indictments to aid Watkins’ political benefactor Lisa Blue. Watkins told Levario in court that he refused to testify because his work as a prosecutor was privileged although his subordinates testified at the hearing.

Levario refused to recognize Watkins’ claim of privilege and held him in contempt. She also dismissed mortgage fraud charges against Hill.

Blue took The Fifth because her attorney Terence Hart said at the time that the FBI was looking into dealings between Watkins and Blue. Hart has since said that federal authorities have concluded their investigation into Blue and found that she did not commit a crime.

The status of any investigation into Watkins is unclear. The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office have repeatedly declined to confirm or deny such an investigation exists.

Levario earlier this month said in her “findings of fact and conclusions of law” about the case that she believed Watkins sought the indictments to help Blue in a battle with Hill over attorney fees.

This week, the DA’s office filed objections to Levario’s findings and conclusions, calling them a “tornado of injustice.” The objections say Levario did not accurately communicate what happened in her courtroom.

The 5th Court of Appeals in Dallas will use Levario’s ruling and the objections in making its decision regarding the DA’s appeal of the dismissal of Hill’s cases.

There is no timetable for the appellate court to rule. There will likely be additional court filings before the justices rule on the appeal.

At the time of the indictments, Blue and two other attorneys were fighting with Hill over attorneys fees from their representation of Hill in a court battle over the family fortune. Hill said that the indictments, which came weeks before the trial over the fee dispute, prevented him from taking the stand.

Hill lost and was ordered to pay an amount later reduced to $22 million. That decision is now being revisited in civil court as attorneys or Hill and his former lawyers battle over whether Levario’s ruling should be taken into account in the case.

In the criminal case, Hill was accused of taking out the $500,000 loan using the Highland Park home where he lived as collateral. But public records show he owned only 20 percent of the home, with the remainder owned by a trust that benefited his father, Al Hill Jr. The percentage of ownership in the home is a matter of dispute.